United once again struggled at home against weaker
opposition and had difficulty beating MansfieldTown at Elland Road in the Fifth Round
of the FA Cup. They survived a disallowed goal by the visitors before they beat
the Stags with goals from Giles and Clarke.

MansfieldTown
had beaten Bury and ShrewsburyTown
in the first two rounds and, in front of a 14,000 crowd, had got past Barnsley
3-2 at Field Mill in the third round. There was a surprise in the fourth round
when they were drawn away to either Arsenal or high-flying Second Division
Blackpool, surprisingly Blackpool upset their First
Division opponents 3-0 in the replay and then Mansfield
sprang an even bigger surprise.

Blackpool
were riding high, eighth in the Second Division and were eventually to be
promoted, but two goals from Stags striker Dai Jones on four minutes and eighty-nine
minutes gave Mansfield a mighty victory in front of 5,000 travelling
Stagsí fans amongst a crowd of 23,715. Dudley Roberts said after the game
"We never heard the Blackpool supporters, just one long roar
cheering us on." The win won a fifth round trip to Leeds United, who were the current First Division champions and again leading
the table.

Stags took
an estimated 10,000 fans to Elland Road in an attendance of 48,093 which
was Leeds' highest of the season. It was
helped by the fact that this was the first time the new extension to the West
Stand was opened and even though it was not fully completed it did help to accommodate
an extra 1,500 spectators. The Stags lost 2-0 to goals from Johnny Giles, after
twenty-seven minutes, and Allan Clarke, after thirty-four minutes, but the
Stags were not disgraced and chairman Arthur Patrick
spoke for everyone after the game when he said "I have never been so proud
of a Mansfield side, not even when they beat West Ham."
The Mansfield supporters left with their heads held high and with the standing
ovation their team received from the home supporters, as they left the quagmire
of a pitch a little reflectively, ringing in their ears.

There was
real controversy when the Stags had a goal disallowed after just thirteen
minutes. Dudley Roberts nodded a ball down for Jimmy Goodfellow
to crack home, but the referee ruled that Roberts had climbed over Paul Reaney. It was an incident that could have changed the
course of Stags' history, but instead Leeds prevailed 2-0 to move into the sixth round.

After an
initial burst from Leeds,
which could easily have brought a couple of goals, Mansfieldwere
getting into their stride. The United defence was
caught on the hop a couple of times, but the Mansfield strikers struggled in the heavy
conditions. It was the razor-sharp finishing in the penalty box that proved to
be the difference between the sides and sank Mansfield in a seven minute burst which
started in the twenty-seventh minute.

An Eddie
Gray corner was only partly headed away and Paul Reaney,
backing up, headed it back into the box and Johnny Giles pivoted on a sixpence
and the ball was in the net. If anyone wondered why Mick Jones was currently
rated Englandís top centre-forward then the second goal
showed them why. Jones, held most effectively by Stuart Boam
for most of the game, eluded his shadow as the ball floated across the face of
the Mansfield goal, apparently destined to go out
of play. But Jones darted after it and managed to screw the ball back into the
six-yard box, where the lethal boot of Allan Clarke did the rest.

That was
that, and now it seemed a case of how many, or so much of the crowd thought Mansfield didnít give in and with a little
more steadiness in front of goal might have scored. A great ball from John
Quigley found his centre-forward Dai Jones but the Welshman blazed over. A
little later Jimmy Goodfellow fired narrowly wide
with a cross-shot.

United
still pressed and the Mansfield goalkeeper Graham Brown made several fine saves
and coupled with some careless work from Allan Clarke the second half score-sheet
remained blank. Dai Jones was replaced by Ray Keeley
after seventy minutes, which seemed a poor move as he had battled bravely even
though dwarfed by the towering Jack Charlton.

For
Mansfield Stuart Boam and Phil Waller stood out. And
full-backs Sandy Pate and Clive Walker did well to limit the threat of the Leeds wingers, Peter Lorimer
and Eddie Gray. Captain John Quigley was the inspiration of the side, but was
still shaking his head over the decision to disallow the goal, while the
Ďscorerí, Jimmy Goodfellow, tried to carve his way
through the almost impregnable Leedsdefence. However, Mansfield joined the long list of teams who
had come to Elland Road and gone away empty-handed as Unitedís unbeaten home record remained intact, with twelve
victories and four draws from sixteen games played.

Although Mansfield received a standing ovation for
their efforts , the headlines in the Sunday papers
went to the mercurial George Best, who, returning after a four week suspension,
scored six times in Manchester Unitedís 8-2 win at NorthamptonTown.